List of first women lawyers and judges in U.S. territories

This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in the territories of the U.S. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

American Samoa

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Guam

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  • Janet Healy Weeks (c. 1970s):[9][10][11] First female lawyer appointed to the Guam Bar. She was also the first female judge in Guam.
  • Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson (c. 1979):[12] First Chamorro female lawyer in Guam. She was also the female appointed as the Attorney General of Guam (1987-1994; Later elected 2015-2019).
  • Ellen A. Lockwood:[13] First female to serve as the Assistant U.S. Attorney for Guam (1987)
  • Marie Tydingco-Gatewood (1983):[14][15][16] First Chamorro female to serve as a judge in Guam (1994) and Chief Judge of the District Court of Guam (2006). She was also the first Chamorro female appointed as the Assistant Attorney General in the Prosecution Division on Guam (1984).

Northern Mariana Islands

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Ramona Villagomez Manglona: First female judge of the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands (2011)
  • Alicia Limtiaco:[19][13] First female to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern Mariana Islands (c. 2010-2017)
  • Leilani V. Lujan:[23] First female to serve as the Federal Public Defender for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (2023)

First in a particular region in the Northern Mariana Islands

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  • Lucia Blanco-Maratita:[29] First female lawyer in Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

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Lawyers

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Firsts in a particular region in Puerto Rico

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United States Virgin Islands

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  • Glenda L. Lake:[61] First female to serve as the Clerk of Court for the District of the Virgin Islands (2012)

Firsts in a particular region in the United States Virgin Islands

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St. Thomas

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See also

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Other topics of interest

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References

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  1. ^ a b Women lawyers' journal. 1974.
  2. ^ a b Governor, American Samoa (1972). Annual Report of the Governor of American Samoa: To the Secretary of the Interior. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  3. ^ a b The Samoan pacific law journal. American Samoa Bar Association. 1974.
  4. ^ "Congressional Record, Volume 143 Issue 111 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)". www.gpo.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
  5. ^ Pacific Magazine. 1997.
  6. ^ International Year Book Covering the Year ... Macmillan Educational Company. 1991.
  7. ^ Upon her appointment as an associate judge of the High Court of American Samoa
  8. ^ "Jessop Taase confirmed: First woman to serve as American Samoa's AG". samoanews.com. 2020-08-11. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  9. ^ a b "Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 7 - HONORING GUAM SUPREME COURT JUSTICE JANET HEALY WEEKS". gpo.gov. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  10. ^ a b "Justice Janet Healy Weeks Receives 2009 Husticia Award". Guam Bar Association. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  11. ^ a b "Honorable Janet Healy Weeks". Judiciary of Guam. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  12. ^ "Biography". Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  13. ^ a b c d "United States Attorney's Office Recognizes Women's History Month by Honoring the Districts' First Female U.S Attorney and AUSA". www.justice.gov. 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  14. ^ "Hon. Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, Chief Judge - District Court of Guam". www.gud.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  15. ^ Congressional Record. Vol. V. 147, Pt. 3. Government Printing Office. March 26, 2001. ISBN 9780160749636.
  16. ^ "2006 Annual Report". Guam Courts.
  17. ^ "- HEARING ON H.R. 100, H.R. 2370, AND S. 210". www.govinfo.gov. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
  18. ^ "Judiciary of Guam". www.guamcourts.org. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
  19. ^ a b c "I MINA 'TRENTAI TRES NA L/HESLATURAN GUAHAN2015 (FIRST) Regular Session". Guam Legislature. 2015.
  20. ^ Jesus, Donna De (16 January 2017). "Katherine Maraman installed as first woman Chief Justice | PNC News First". pacificnewscenter.com. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  21. ^ "2016 JUDICIARY OF GUAM Annual Report" (PDF).
  22. ^ Post, Mindy Aguon |The Guam Daily. "Taitano-Terlaje elected president of Guam Bar Association". The Guam Daily Post. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  23. ^ a b "Leilani V. Lujan Appointed as New Federal Public Defender for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands" (PDF). United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit. November 17, 2023.
  24. ^ a b "CNMI Bar Association Members". Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  25. ^ "Commonwealth Superior Court Former Judges" (PDF). 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  26. ^ McPhetres, Samuel F. (2004-01-01). "Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands". The Contemporary Pacific. 16 (1): 132–137. doi:10.1353/cp.2004.0022. ISSN 1527-9464. S2CID 258059295.
  27. ^ "Obama nominates Ramona Villagomez Manglona to be Federal District Court Judge | Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan". sablan.house.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  28. ^ "Three women admitted to CNMI Bar". Saipan News, Headlines, Events, Ads | Saipan Tribune. 2005-04-29. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  29. ^ MVAdmin. "Still no new judicial nominee". Marianas Variety. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  30. ^ "Mujeres pioneras del Derecho: Bibliografía". issuu. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  31. ^ Revista del Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). El Colegio. 1978.
  32. ^ León, Pablo Berga y Ponce de (1917). Revista de legislación y jurisprudencia de la Asociación de abogados de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). Comité de revista y legislación de la Asociación.
  33. ^ Revista de derecho puertorriqueño (in Spanish). Escuela de Derecho, Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico. 1976.
  34. ^ Upon her admission to the Federal Court for the District of Puerto Rico
  35. ^ Méndez-Méndez, Serafín; Fernandez, Ronald (2015-07-14). Puerto Rico Past and Present: An Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781440828324.
  36. ^ Arbolay, Pedro J. Rivera; Rivera, Pura A. (1998). Pueblos de nuestro Puerto Rico (in Spanish). Publicaciones Puertorriqueñas Editores. ISBN 9781881713678.
  37. ^ "Fallece Miriam Naveira Merly, primera jueza presidenta del Supremo". El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish). 2018-04-15. Retrieved 2018-05-14.
  38. ^ Cesario, Angelica (2019-10-15). "The Firsts: Latinx Attorneys Who Paved the Way for Generations to Come - Page 5 of 6 - Above the Law CLEAbove the Law CLE". Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  39. ^ Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Jimmy Carter, 1980-1981, Book 2: May 24 to September 26, 1980. Government Printing Office.
  40. ^ MORALES-ECHEVERRÍA, NATALIA. "Hon. Aida M. Delgado-Colón Chief Judge, District of Puerto Rico".
  41. ^ Mujer, Nueva. "Estas son las mujeres que han liderado el Departamento de Justicia". Nueva Mujer. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  42. ^ Revista del Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). El Colegio. 1993.
  43. ^ "Celebran primera asamblea de abogadas". Claridad (in European Spanish). 2019-03-12. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  44. ^ "SENADO DE PUERTO RICO DIARIO DE SESIONES: PROCEDIMIENTOS Y DEBATES DE LA DECIMOQUINTA ASAMBLEA LEGISLATIVA TERCERA SESION ORDINARIA AÑO 2006" (PDF). SENADO DE PUERTO RICO. March 6, 2006.
  45. ^ "Meet the U.S. Attorney". www.justice.gov. 2015-04-08. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  46. ^ Congressional Record : Daily Digest of the 110th Congress First Session 2007. Government Printing Office.
  47. ^ Niemann, Yolanda Flores; Muhs, Gabriella Gutiérrez y; González, Carmen G. (2020-04-15). Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-1-60732-966-4.
  48. ^ Lopez, María Pabón (2012). "Reflections About Legal Education and Justice from the Perspective of a Latina Law School Dean". California Western Law Review. 48 (2).
  49. ^ ivetteromero (2012-09-13). "Ana Irma Rivera Lassén: New President of the Bar Association of Puerto Rico". Repeating Islands. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  50. ^ "Puerto Rico appoints first openly gay chief justice | Sun Times National". 2017-02-02. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2018-06-07.
  51. ^ Scarcella, Mike (2023-02-14). "Biden's 100th confirmed judge is LGBTQ+ first for Puerto Rico". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  52. ^ "Con larga trayectoria la nueva jueza administradora de los tribunales". El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish). 2014-09-25. Retrieved 2018-06-05.
  53. ^ United States of America Congressional Record. Government Printing Office.
  54. ^ Ltd, Earl G. Graves (April 1992). Black Enterprise. Earl G. Graves, Ltd.
  55. ^ "Past Presidents - Virgin Islands Bar Association". vibar.org. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  56. ^ Board of Governors. American Bar Association. April 1996.
  57. ^ "NAAG | Virgin Islands Former Attorneys General". www.naag.org. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  58. ^ "WOMEN'S AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS HISTORY MONTH (Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 47)". March 19, 2015.
  59. ^ "Judiciary Annual Report 2017: Justices" (PDF). U.S. Virgin Islands Judiciary & Court System.
  60. ^ "Wilma Lewis '78 Named District Court Judge for US Virgin Islands". www.swarthmore.edu. 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  61. ^ "Newly Appointed Clerk of Court | District Court of the Virgin Islands |". www.vid.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
  62. ^ "Soraya Diase Coffelt 81 Lectures on the Struggle for Citizenship in the US Virgin Islands". www.lawschool.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-03.